The company is working with Evercore Partners as an adviser for the possible sale. It was not immediately clear how much the Globe and related properties would now command in a sale.

“Our plan to sell the New England Media Group demonstrates our commitment to concentrate our strategic focus and investment on The New York Times brand and its journalism,” Mark Thompson, the Times Co. CEO, said in a statement. “We believe that a sale is in the best long-term interests of these properties and the employees who work for them as well as in the best interests of our shareholders.”

Over the past 13 months, the Times Co. has shed other assets, including its regional newspaper group and About.com, which it sold to Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp. The sales left the company with $955 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of 2012.

Aaron Kushner, the real estate mogul now pouring money into the Orange County Register, tried to buy the Globe after the Times took it off the market in 2009. He raised $200 million to buy the New England Media Group, which operates the Globe and its sister paper, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.